


Flowers for a sword

by Ostodvandi



Series: Dimilix Week 2020 [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Courtship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22761484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ostodvandi/pseuds/Ostodvandi
Summary: After a conversation with Byleth, Dimitri starts giving Felix gifts that remind him of the past.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Series: Dimilix Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633846
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	Flowers for a sword

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this is a hot mess tbh.
> 
> For day 3 of Dimilix week, I chose Courting!

Lately, Byleth has been noticing signs that Dimitri was improving, opening up a little after so many months of shutting himself away from the world, from the people that loved him most. He had seen him drink tea with Rodrigue, spar with Felix, pray with Mercedes. Little things that required a certain strain from him, but the important part was that he did them, that he tried even if he was emotionally exhausted by the end of the day and retired from the war councils early on Byleth's own request. 

So when, one week before they were to march for the next battle, he invites Dimitri to eat with him and he accepts with a tired smile, it isn't as surprising as it could be. 

He requests one of what he supposes are Dimitri's favorite dishes, but the young man has a strange relationship with food that Byleth hasn't unraveled fully yet: he could eat anything in front of him – Flayn's cooking even – and the most praise he ever gives a food is that it reminds him of…

'Ah, this reminds me of my childhood.' And there it is, the quote Byleth expected. 'Gautier cheese is the most delicious I know.'

Byleth nods in agreement. 'It is truly delicious.'

'I remember once we ate this, all of us together…' His gaze drifts away, looking through the plate and the table and Byleth, and he doesn't like the absent look in his eyes.

'Dimitri?'

He snaps out of it with a small gasp, and gives Byleth an apologetic smile. 'I'm… sorry, professor.'

'It's alright.'

He seems to be looking for something to say, something that doesn't involve the thoughts that were going through his head previously, and after another mouthful of food he seems to hit it. 'Ah, Professor,' his eye widens, and Byleth notices yet again the fading bags under it. 'Would you like to hear a hilarious childhood story?'

'Oh?' Byleth's eyebrows arch up. 'Of course.'

'It's about… the day Felix found out Glenn was betrothed to Ingrid.' He laughs, playing with the food on his plate. 'I think I will never forget that day, Professor. He was so angry.'

'What happened?'

'He said that if Ingrid could marry his brother, then he…' His cheeks light up in intense red, and he looks away. 'That he should marry me, because we were best friends, and that it was only fair and it made sense… He clung to my arm and started whining and sobbing when Rodrigue told him it wasn't like that.'

Byleth has heard stories of Felix as a child, the crybaby that had turned into a man that tried to appear as stone cold as possible. Of course, there had been reasons for that change, but it is still surprising to see the contrast to him. He can't imagine how unbelievable it must be for someone that actually met younger Felix.

'He'd always want to stay with me… Cried every time we would say goodbye. Glenn or Rodrigue always had to drag him to the carriage.'

It sounds messy, Byleth thinks, and there's an inevitable warm smile on his face.

'Well, after that, Glenn told us that for couples that weren't betrothed like him and Ingrid, courting was necessary, and…'

Dimitri flushes again, and Byleth tilts his head to the side.

'We didn't– We didn't really know the process of courting well, of course. Just things we saw the adults doing. So I started giving Felix flowers, and he gave me slices of his steak, things like that. It stopped when…'

He looks down at his food, and Byleth doesn’t need to ask to guess what it is that changed their relationship. However, there is something that doesn’t add up with Dimitri’s words. ‘He still does that.’

Dimitri blinks, and stops moving his food on the plate with the fork. ‘What do you mean, professor?’

‘He still offers you food,’ Byleth explains, with his usual neutral voice. ‘I’ve seen him cut pieces off his meals, solely to drop them on your plate.’

‘Ah.’ Byleth starts wondering if Dimitri has a cold, because the flush on his face isn’t going away. ‘He… has done that, a couple times.’

‘He also does it when you’re not paying attention, sometimes.’

‘D-Does he?’

He nods. And, Byleth thinks, even if it has nothing to do with that “courting” from their childhood, it still shows that Felix cares for him deeply, wanting him to eat as much as possible after five years of near starvation. ‘Perhaps you could reciprocate.’

Dimitri rubs the back of his neck, suddenly looking exhausted. ‘I… I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Professor.’

Byleth’s eyes widen. ‘Why?’

‘He will most likely be angry at me, and reject any… well, I doubt the word “advances” fits, since I’m not… It wouldn’t be… I mean, I wouldn’t…’ He coughs, clearing his throat. ‘And what could I even do anyway? There’s nothing…’

‘There are flowers growing in the greenhouse. All are allowed to pick some for themselves.’ Byleth replies with his characteristic pragmatism. ‘If not, merchants are always at the entrance of the monastery.’

Dimitri’s gaze gets lost in the plate still full of food, perhaps considering Byleth’s suggestion. But, even if he accepted, what flower or present could be good for Felix? Good enough for him not to reject it, that is?

* * *

The war rages on, and Felix uses it as an excuse to practice with his sword and magic until his own father nags him enough - with his stupid talk about how much he needs sleep to keep up this pace - for him to leave the training grounds. As if he were still a helpless child that needs eight hours of sleep to function properly. He’s in his early twenties now, for fuck’s sake.

Still, he  _ is  _ tired. He walks the hallway of the second floor of bedrooms, annoyed as always at the fact that his room is the one almost at the end of the corridor, and then he notices-

The door to his room is open, and a trembling light pours out of it. Out of instinct, Felix grabs the handle of one of his swords and frowns, prepared to fight if necessary. He walks slow, tiptoeing like a cat would, inching closer and closer to the light, and then he hears a familiar voice from inside the room.

‘Oh, no, no, I’m going to break it…’ the familiar voice of the boar laments, and Felix’s heart makes an odd dance inside of his chest. ‘Why can’t I do anything properly…’

What the hell is he doing here? Did he get the bedroom wrong or something? In any case, Felix’s hand won’t stop gripping the handle as he finally shows himself, standing under the doorframe. ‘What the fuck are you doing here, boar?’

That startles the man, who has been sitting down and bent over some object, and something snaps between his fingers. Not an unusual sight, unlike everything else that is going on here. ‘I- I apologize, Felix. I can explain myself, if you’ll allow me.’

‘You better have a goddamn superb fucking explanation.’ Felix walks in, closing the door to keep this scene from indiscreet eyes and ears. ‘This is my room.’

‘I am aware. I’m sorry for entering without your previous permission.’ Felix looks at whatever Dimitri is leaving on the floor - it seems to be a sword and some ornaments. Odd. ‘I just… Wanted to leave something, but there were… complications.’ Felix rolls his eyes, pressing his lips together and breathing through his nose. ‘I wanted to offer you this,’ he points at the sword, and the flowers that lay around it. ‘It’s… a common, but brand new sword. I thought it could be useful for you.’

Felix raises an eyebrow, putting a hand on his hip. ‘And you’re giving me this out of nowhere because…?’ And what are the flowers for, anyway?

Dimitri doesn’t answer that. ‘Annette helped put the flowers around the handle. But the whole ensemble crumbled down, and I was just… incapable of putting it back together.’

Felix sighs. ‘Nothing new under the sun, you brute.’ Not like he’s any better at this flower linking stuff, but he definitely wouldn’t crush flowers on accident. A second look at the flowers reveals to Felix that they are pansies, similar to those that used to grow around Castle Fhirdiad. 

Similar to the ones Dimitri used to give him when they were children. Felix takes in a sharp breath.

‘Get out of my room. I want to sleep.’

Dimitri - the beast - nods slowly, getting up from the floor in all his height. He’d be more menacing if he didn’t look tired, if his lips weren’t pursed in a familiar pout that seems more like a relic of the past than an actual thing that is happening. Dimitri’s little pout when he accidentally crushed the pansies he had picked for Felix, for their stupid childhood game.

Is he mocking Felix? He has no time to ask, because Dimitri wishes him a good night’s rest and leaves before he can muster the strength to say the words. But, as beastly as the boar prince is, he isn’t the sort to do something for the sake of mockery. He wants to believe he, at the very least, knows that about the boy he used to love.

He picks up the flowers and the sword, placing the latter with the rest of his weaponry collection, and the former in a pot where the Professor’s birthday flowers usually went before they died. As he gets ready to sleep, his gaze constantly drifts back to the pansies, their presence too big for some dumb, soon to die flowers.

If Felix knew Dimitri just a little less, he’d probably think Dimitri was replaying their game, their dumb childhood attempt at courting.

But that can’t possibly be it, can it?

* * *

The pansies keep coming, appearing in his bedroom from time to time. Sometimes, they’re tied with a blue or white hair tie, which Felix may or may not have started keeping in his drawer and wearing some days. Likewise, Dimitri may or may not have resembled a ripe tomato everytime he saw Felix’s hair adorned with one of those simpleties.

Felix, if nothing else, will admit that Dimitri knows what to give to him: practical presents, besides the flowers, that he can use daily. Which also makes Felix wonder just what the hell the boar wants. He could ask, but nobody should be around: this is a conversation for their ears only and he doesn’t need gossip going around the monastery when there are more important things to focus on. 

There is, however, no time for even such a pointless conversation, because Dimitri is back to his senses and the Professor and the others are taking up all his time planning the invasion of Enbarr, that objective Dimitri would’ve previously pushed them all to not so long ago, even when their deaths would have been certain. 

The day before they start marching, he is eating dinner with Ingrid and Sylvain, but the boar isn’t present. Which, for some reason, puts him in a bad mood.

‘And then I started to try and court him? But he looked like he was about to kick me in the balls.’

‘And you deserved it, unsurprisingly. Just stop pestering him.’ Ingrid scolds him, some food still in her mouth, and then turns to Felix, swallowing before talking again. ‘Don’t you agree, Felix?’

Felix groans, and stops fidgeting with his tie. ‘What is it now.’

‘He’s been annoying Yuri ever since he joined our class five years ago and is somehow surprised he won’t pay any attention to him.’

‘I’m not surprised! In fact, I think it’s really hot.’ Felix grimaces in disgust, taking a spoonful of his food, and Sylvain smirks. ‘And what about you, Fe?’ Felix’s frown grows deeper. ‘You know. You, Dimitri, and all that.’

And then Felix chokes on his food, coughing into his plate and punching his chest. Ingrid’s eyes are open wide with surprise, and somehow it’s even worse that she’s finding out now. ‘What the hell are you even talking about?’

‘You know, the flowers he sends you, the - dare I say it - really stylish hair ties. It’s ok, you can confide in me and Ing, Fe.’ Sylvain blinks, and Felix starts considering gauging that eye out himself. ‘I myself helped him pick them in the market, you know.’

So all of this was Sylvain’s idea. He should’ve expected it: only he could have convinced the boar prince to do this stupid thing, probably to laugh at their expense. Dimitri was so stupid, so fucking stupid-

‘Sylvain, you shouldn’t stick your nose in His Highness and Felix’s personal life.’ 

‘Uh? It was Dimitri’s idea!’ He raises his hands into the air, defensive. ‘He told me he was collecting flowers to give to Felix, and that he needed advice on a present! It was funny, actually.’ And Felix would bet his sword hand that whatever was going to come out of his mouth isn’t going to be funny, ‘I asked him “oh are you courting him or something?” and he flushed as if he were a fifteen year old maiden.’

Felix’s chair falls to the ground as he stands up, startling Sylvain and Ingrid and, thankfully, silencing the former for a good minute. 

And then he proceeds to leave the dining hall, his mind swarmed with thoughts he can’t put together properly. What is Dimitri trying to achieve? What’s wrong with him? Why can’t he stop getting under his skin?

It’s already late, but he searches for Dimitri around the monastery all the same. He isn’t in the training grounds, nor in the knight’s hall, nor in the cathedral, and by the time he walks out of that last location, he finally spots him.

He’s standing by the railing of the bridge, staring at the horizon line without much of an expression on his face. He wasn’t there when Felix headed to the cathedral, and by now Felix has lost most of his anger to exhaustion.

‘You.’ He calls as he walks closer, and Dimitri seems to miraculously notice him. ‘Where the hell were you?’

Dimitri makes that face that makes him look like a small puppy. ‘I… was stargazing, at the Archbishop’s terrace. Why?’

‘Ugh.’ Of course. The only fucking place he wouldn’t think of.

‘Is something wrong?’

‘What the fuck do all of those presents mean. The sword, and the… the flowers, and the ties. All that nonsense.’

Dimitri bends back slightly, like he thinks Felix is going to slap him. ‘...I, well… It was… I thought…’

‘Sylvain said you were courting me.’

‘Ah.’ Dimitri looks away, at the depth under the bridge. ‘He… said that. Well, I suppose it  _ is  _ that. I just… The professor told me maybe you wouldn’t reject a present from me, and I thought you would, but then you started carrying the sword around, and I… It made me happy.’

Felix places his hand over the handle of said sword, which is still strapped to one of his belts. ‘I wouldn’t throw away something useful. We’re at war.’

‘I’m aware.’ He nods. ‘That’s what I told myself. But, still, you, accepting a present from me, of all people, it was… I wanted to try it again, and you sometimes complain about losing your hair ties. I know you’re not the sort of person to be won over by presents, and that wasn’t my intention. I just…’

Their gazes find each other then, while Felix waits for Dimitri to continue his explanation, and a few seconds of silence drag on between them.

‘I apologize for… not explaining myself. I’m afraid I was too brazen in my advances. I shall stop them from now on.’

‘Don’t go playing the victim now,’ Felix groans, putting one hand on his hip. ‘The flowers, they were- you knew exactly what you were doing.’

‘I’m sorry. I...’

‘Wanted things to be like when we were kids?’ Dimitri stays silent. ‘You’re more delusional than I thought. As if anything could be the same.’ 

Dimitri sighs, looking more tired than ever, starting to hunch over himself like a wounded animal. ‘It’s not about turning things back to how they were. I might be a fool, but I know it’s not possible.’

‘Then what?’

A small hope starts to grow inside of Felix’s chest, but he shouldn’t allow it to flourish, because Dimitri, the world, and himself have disappointed him enough times. ‘I suppose it was more of a… hope that something new could start, from what we were. I don’t know if I’m making sense. I won’t blame you if you decide to not give me that chance, considering your animosity towards me.’

Felix inhales the cold night air of the monastery, exhales it slowly, and leans on the same railing where Dimitri’s hands rest. 

‘...Do whatever you want. I won’t… throw anything away.’

He hears Dimitri gasp, and the smile in his voice is clear when he replies. ‘Understood. Thank you, Felix.’

**Author's Note:**

> I promise day 4 is actually really damn good.
> 
> I have a [a Twitter](https://twitter.com/Ostodvandi).


End file.
